AIRPORT ILS BEING REPAIRED

The instrument landing system at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport should be back in operation this month.

The system, which failed in mid-May, is being repaired by the Federal Aviation Administration and could be ready as early as June 22, said an FAA spokesman.

It will still have to be flight tested by the FAA, and that could take another week.

Following the equipment repair, the system's wiring will continue to be upgraded. The first phase of the ILS wiring upgrade was completed last year, leaving two additional phases. The second is to be completed this year.

The system will remain in use during the second upgrade phase, but the third phase in early 1999 will require shutting it down.

"Hopefully, everything will be completed for the flight testing later this month," said Bruce Loy, airport manager. "Thanks to pretty good weather, the ILS shutdown hasn't resulted in too many problems."

One Transworld Express flight from St. Louis was canceled due to stormy conditions.

The ILS system is important to pilots because it helps them land in inclement weather. Some pilots believe the ILS is the major approach to use with low clouds. It is a precision approach that lets pilots go lower, to 200 feet, safer than other precision approaches, pilots say,

"We have other types of approaches we can use here," said Ken Ford, an air-traffic controller at the airport. "Most airports will have other approaches."

The Cape Girardeau airport has the NDB, GPS and VOR approaches, providing landing assistance with clouds up to about 560 to 600 feet with a half-mile visibility.